Potential of Immunotherapies in Treating Hematological Cancer-Infection Comorbidities-A Mathematical Modelling Approach.

Progression of a cancer and the effect of treatments depend on the cancer size, the level of infection, and on the efficiency of the adaptive immune system. The model exhibits bi-stability, i.e., virtual patient trajectories gravitate towards one of two stable steady states: a dormant state or a full-blown cancer-infection disease state. An infectious threshold curve exists and if infection exceed this separatrix for sufficiently long time the cancer escapes. Thus, early treatment is vital for remission and severe infections may instigate cancer progression. CAR T-cell Immunotherapy may sufficiently control cancer progression back into a dormant state but the therapy significantly gains efficiency in combination with antibiotics or immunomodulation.